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Global Consumerism

Kleenex®, Band-Aid® and Coke® all marketed their brands too well over the years. To many, every tissue is a Kleenex®, and every small plastic or fabric bandage is a Band-Aid®. On the other hand, people may refer to all (or perhaps only the dark) soft drinks as Cokes®, but that company enjoys a high level of customer loyalty that other common brands do not.

Building the BrandThe opposite side of well-known brands is that consumers readily differentiate product classes between brands. Ketchup is not referred to as a generic Heinz® as is the case with tissues and bandages, yet consumers make clear distinction between Heinz and other brands of ketchup. They also have their favorites and generally will not stray from the one to which they have assigned their loyalties. Coca-Cola has the world's most recognizable brand and is available all around the world. The entire beverage industry has undergone changes in recent years that have affected Coke along with its competitors. Nearly from its inception, the mission of the Coca-Cola Company has been to make the product a universal, global one.

One sees them everyday. Pictures of cars, images of gleaming coffeepots, and dancing soap bubbles. Ask any adult in their late twenties to sing a jingle from McDonald's, and the version given will more than likely include Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us '. Why after all these years has the jingle become part of the collective consciousness? Because that's the power of advertising. Advertising has been synonymous with the human experience since very early times. This has been shown to be true as excavations in Pompeii and early Rome show advertisements for property rental and goods(Wissen Erleben 2002). In America, advertising began around the early 1870's and included a new idea: mail order catalogues. These were developed in response to the location of most of the consumer base. They were very rural and families did not live near one...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...Feature
What's behind American consumerism?
As Americans increasingly spend more than they earn, psychological research is providing clues as to why.
By Amy Novotney
Monitor Staff
July/August 2008, Vol 39, No. 7
Print version: page 40
Woman holding a bag and a credit card
One bright spot in the midst of the country's economic downturn may be a long-overdue focus on reining in our spending. Since 1982, Americans' personal savings rate has dropped from 11 percent to below zero, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and personal bankruptcy
filings have reached record highs. As the debt load has risen, psychologists have increasingly been called on to explain why Americans overspend. In the last six months alone, APA's Media Referral Service fielded more than 60 requests from media organizations looking to talk to a psychologist about money--more than any other subject during the same time.
Researchers say that new ways of advertising, paired with cultural shifts toward consumerism, seem to be driving the trend.
"Any time the urge strikes, we now have the capability to act on it impulsively, and that creates a much greater challenge for us than was ever the case before," says psychologist Stuart Vyse, PhD, author of "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money" (Oxford University Press, 2008). "It's only natural that we are having trouble with debt."
The almighty impulse
One culprit may be...

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Consumerism in Our Society: Balancing the Equation
Consumerism is the introduction of the unnecessary consumption of goods that aren’t needed. Advertising is leading us to purchases of highly replaceable products that are unnecessary, perishable with the only purpose of continuing the mass production of goods within an industry. However, it is important to address that consumerism is necessary because we have real necessities to survive. As an example, food and clothing. Consumerism is a form of stimulation with the outcome being the creation and sale of more products. Big corporations are using advertising as a means to make us feel connected to their products and the target market group who purchase the same products. We concede that everyone has to consume certain products or services to survive, and in this a natural way to satisfy the essential necessities of life. This essay will explore consumerism in our society analyzing the negative and positive effects to demonstrate the necessity and importance of a balanced consumption in regards of people’s relationships, their happiness and depression.
The majority of people in society believed that they have the necessity to buy goods that they don’t need, regardless if the consequence is a massive debt burden. People have an impulsive need that is leading them to a compulsive buying of unnecessary goods. Benjamin Barber, in his essay “Overselling...

...﻿Saleshni Chandra
Ms. Ina Gard
English 1A
09-24-14
Effects of Consumerism on Economy.
Consumerism is becoming the hallmark of most world economies. In the West, it is a common phenomenon, but now even developing countries in the world are resorting to it. It has become a latest trend not in young generation but also in adulthood. Consumerism is defined in many ways; some say it refers to the consumption of goods at a higher rate, whereas some say it’s a major crisis that world faces today. It is also known as a modern movement to protect the consumer against useless, inferior or rather dangerous products, misleading advertisements and unfair pricing. In simple terms it is referred as producing goods in favor of consumer. The process will be transmitted from one generation to another through social interaction, discussion with family, friends and work colleagues, TV shows we watch, the magazine we read social media and advertisements we are exposed. Consumerism has a major effect on the growth of American economy as it gives boost to the availability of goods and services, increase in the employment opportunities which increases the risk of reduction of the natural resources and psychological issues within the community.
In consumer society, people replace their goods with newer ones. They purchase goods, use them and forget about the old one. Advertisements and social media play a smart role in advertising...

...﻿The Effects of Consumerism
Posted by Amitabh Shukla on July 2, 2009 in World Economy
Consumerism is becoming the hallmark of most world economies. In the West, it is a common phenomenon, but now even developing countries in the world are resorting to it.
Consumerism refers to the consumption of goods at a higher rate. The economy is judged by the production and selling of goods. The gross national product is the sum total of goods and services produced for a specific period at a specific time. The more goods produced and consumed by society the higher the growth rate of the economy. The prosperity of a nation is judged by the per capita income of individuals residing in it. The economy is considered to be” doing well” if the purchasing power of the people is high.
In consumer society, people replace their goods with newer ones. They purchase goods, use them and throw them away. New goods when they become old are replaced by newer ones. The question of repair does not arise People have money to purchase goods in plenty. In case, they do not do so as it leads to recession and depression and also results in unemployment.
What are the effects of the consumerism?
Consumerism is appreciated in Western economies since a person’s standard of living is valued by his or her material possessions. There are certain positive effects such as:
Positive Consumerism Effects:
Primary positive...

...﻿The effects of consumerism on individuals and society.
‘The new slavery is consumerism’ (Bryant H. McGill); people use consumerism to gain control and power. In Bruce Dawe’s poems Americanized and Abandonment of Autos, and Claire Carmichael’s novel Ads R Us, consumerism is conveyed as a trap that is a continuous and vicious cycle of replacing products with new and “better” things even if the old product still works. Dawe’s Americanized is an extended metaphor for the way that America has taken control of other countries through consumerism, and Abandonment of Autos demonstrates the replacement of “old” things with newer things. Carmichael’s Ads R Us shows how people are able to use the trap of consumerism to gain power and control over society.
Americanized portrays America as a mother caring for her baby which represents the rest of the world, showing how America has taken control of influencing the world. The mother is caring for her baby boy and telling him stories about the outside world and how bad it is, as if she is telling him that he should be afraid to be without her guidance and protection. She continues to care for him by ‘popping him on his plastic pot.’ The metaphor suggesting that America is “toilet training” the rest of the world to do everything the way that Americans do. Dawe uses this the get the reader thinking about how much America influences them as an individual...

...﻿Richard A. Thompson
Professor Heather Williams
English 102
27 October 2013
Consumerism and Happiness
In modern day society our entire economy is based upon a consumerist system in which people seek happiness through constant expansion of their material standard of living. In consumerism, people are driven to consume by two processes; these processes being want-creation and a growth of personal status. In both of these processes one consumes constantly with little to no change in long term happiness. This is because if one lives through consumerism, then their personal goals will never be fulfilled due to the ever-changing drive of wanting more and more. In order for someone to be happy, that person must have self-satisfaction; moreover, if someone wants more than what he or she has then clearly that person is not satisfied.
Many argue that they are satisfied with all their stuff and that they would not be happy without it. I respectfully disagree and argue that, most of the time, someone experiences a temporary happiness or a certain level of comfort with material possessions that is often confused with the long-term happiness one hopes to achieve. To test this theory I conducted interviews with one male and one female of each generation across the span of 3 generations. The participants in this survey were as follows; two friends of mine, Joseph Robinson and Jenna Winn; my parents, Allan Thompson and Lori Turner; and my...

...Consumerism – Bruce Dawe Poetry || 2009
Every society has mythology. In some societies, it’s religion. Our religion is
consumerism.
As we are constantly exposed to mass media and popular culture in our modern society, the insidious nature of consumerism has allowed it to penetrate into every aspect of our lives, dictating our very beliefs, values and wants. Nearly every individual in our society subconsciously conforms to the shallow and superficial mindset that characterises our consumerist culture. This idea is highlighted by the following texts; the poem “Enter without so much as knocking” by Bruce Dawe, an extract from the sermon “The Religion of Consumerism” delivered by Peter House, the poem “Breakthrough” by Bruce Dawe, and the video trailer for the documentary “What would Jesus Buy?” directed by Rob VanAlkemade.
The idea that consumerism is governing every aspect of our lives is clearly demonstrated in the poem Enter without so much as knocking by Bruce Dawe. The very first line “blink, blink. HOSPITAL. SILENCE.” represents a baby being born into the world. The words “HOSPITAL. SILENCE.” are similar to those used in film scripts, indicating setting, lighting and sounds. This suggests that the baby’s life is being directed, symbolising the notion that he will be heavily influenced and be led through life by consumerism. The line “first thing he heard was Bobby Dazzler on...

...﻿Kelly Hoang
Jamin Pelkey
Ideas That Shape The World ACS100
21 November 2014
Living In A Consumerist Society
The ideology of consumerism and all that it entails has been a staple of academic and philosophical discussion for centuries. When looking at consumerism, we see a great deal of the fundamental desires and delusions of an individual for a sense of control, fulfilment and most importantly, our identity. Its theories and concepts about the structure and development of the individual ego stand upon concerns of meaning, desire, power, value, and objects in relation to consumer society. We are left to feel isolated from not only ourselves but in society. It is our own identity that encompasses the pursuit, compromise, placement and exchange of advertisements, and ideals for people to make meanings in their lives. It’s the total amount of one’s past experiences, unmet needs, idealistic wish fulfilling dreams, ambitions and hopes which drive the individual to find an object to fill in the emptiness and create a sense of wholeness and identity. This topic is significantly important and interesting for me because the idea of finding our true self is heavily influenced by the environment we live in. We are constantly flooded in advertisements, images, social media, and messages portrayed by large corporations to behave and look a certain way to mold into society’s expectations. However, being able to distance yourself and not letting it influence...